The Associated Press
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ST. PAULS -
About 100 members of the N.C. National Guard are home after a year's deployment to Iraq.The soldiers are members of the 171st Engineer Company (Sapper). They returned Monday, and a welcome-home ceremony was held Tuesday in St. Pauls, a town in Robeson County.Sappers are combat engineers who clear routes with explosives and detonate roadside bombs and mines.The engineers use blast-resistant vehicles including the Buffalo, which has a robotic arm that can examine suspicious items. They use the Husky to tow mine-detecting trailers, and they use heavily armed RG-31 patrol vehicles.The company went on 500 route-clearing missions and destroyed 130 explosives. One member of the company, Pfc. Adam Lee Marion of Mount Airy, was killed.
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